Soul Care #18: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Anxiety continued...

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder used to be called Combat Fatigue, as it was first diagnosed from early data of soldiers who never fully 'came back' from battle. Their lives afterwards centered around avoidance, experience of flashbacks and dreams, highly reactive, and unable to sustain relationships.

Yet this phenomenon describes not just soldiers, but also others who experience life-threatening situations that were out of their control. People generally deal with stress by either 'fight' or 'flight.' But if you are a soldier who cannot run and cannot fight at that moment, the trauma of the event sometimes becomes 'frozen' inside. It will eventually thaw and return to the surface.

In WWII, there were low numbers of PTSD sufferers. In Vietnam and Iraq, there were high occurences of PTSD. Research showed that WWII soldiers who returned home on boats where they had time to share their stories and heal the frozen parts. They were also recieved home as heroes. Vietnam vets were criticized and told to hide. They were also sent home on planes and immediately returned to their homes with none who had experienced their stress.

The 'cure' is to thaw. Yet this is extremely scary because they are committed to not reliving painful memories. Sometimes God in his grace allows a person to forget until they are ready to deal with it. Thus, remembering is a sign that they are getting better, not worse.

How about anxiety medication?
Just like in depression, sometimes people DO need physical help to reset their body's chemicals. Yet just like when taking medication for depression, a person cannot resolve their difficulties with medicine alone.

The Western view of the body is much more inclined to 'fix' problems with medication. We don't tend to think about how lifestyle choices, schedules, exercise, healthy diets, etc... factor into a person's overall well-being. We can also tend to segment what is spiritual. We think reading our Bible and asking to be filled with the Spirit should provide what we need, but we fail to consider how to care for our bodies, minds, and spirits as an integrated whole.